Shotokan Karate Lineage

Picture

* Grand Master Gichin Funakoshi (1868 to1957), founder of Shotokan Karate.

* Masatoshi Nakayama Sensei (1913 to 1987), student of Gichin Funakoshi       Sensei established the Japan Karate association in 1949.

* Keinosuke Enoeda Sensei (1935 to 2003), Student of Nakayama Sensei and part of a team of Masters sent out to spread Shotokan across the world (he was once credited as having the strongest punch in Japan) and was the Karate Union of Great Britain Chief instructor from 1966 until his death in 2003; he was know by the nick name of Tora (Tiger).

* T.D. McKinnon Sensei, student of Enoeda Sensei & founder of Torakan 1977. 

* Photo and artwork by Zoë Lake

Click on image to view photo gallery

The Oath Of Honour

I promise to uphold the true spirit of karate-do and never to use my skills except in the instance of extreme danger in defence of myself, family, friends or country, or in the support of law and order.

My Path To Karate

As a child, not unlike many children, I felt vulnerable.  A sensitive child, I never thought of myself as tough; not like a lot of the other boys seemed to be in my coalmining community environment.  However I was an obstinate child and although I was never quite sure where in fact my determination would lead I knew I would prevail; against all odds as it sometimes seemed.

I was around six years old when my Uncle Robert, my mother’s brother, came out of the army.  He lived with us for a couple of years. He’d been a champion boxer in several weight divisions, and he instructed me in the gentlemanly art of boxing; he was my first martial arts teacher.

Later, in my early teens, I joined the local ‘National Coal Board’ Boxing Club; training for several months, I was about to launch into a junior boxing career; however, on the night of my first event the boxing coach met with an unfortunate accident, resulting in the club’s closure.

I was fifteen in 1965 and I joined the Junior Parachute Company and began a five year stint in the Parachute Regiment.  During my service, as well as representing my unit as a boxer, I was part of a ‘Close Quarter & Unarmed Combat Display Squad’, performing at various military tattoos around the country. 

Two years after leaving the army in 1972, while working at a Sports Centre in Glasgow, I was fortunate enough to be able to watch the ‘Scottish National Karate Squad’ training for an up coming ‘European Championships’ match against West Germany.  My formal karate training began the following week.

Scotland won the match by the way, and four years later I would be competing for a place in the ‘Karate Union of Scotland Team’ against some of the fighters I’d watched training on that first day.

My Instructors were Danny Bryceland Sensei, Alex MacGreggor Sensei, Masao Kowazoe Sensei and my chief instructor was Keinosuke Enoeda Sensei.  I also trained with Taiji Kase Sensei, Hirokazu Kanazawa Sensei and Hiroshi Shirai Sensei; in fact most of the original JKA Instructors class.

By 1979 I had tired of tournament fighting, was focusing on teaching (Torakan, my Shotokan Karate School, had classes in five separate locations, with around 150 members) and I had applied to immigrate to Australia.  In 1980 I moved to Sydney, Australia and went right on opening karate classes and teaching.  I was invited to train with different styles and join several organisations where, as well as training in and learning different styles of martial arts, I was voted into key positions (President, Secretary and Technical Advisor et cetera) on various boards.

At this time, some of my students wanted to test their skills in open tournament, and because none of my Australian students had witnessed my own tournament accomplishments, preparing them for a major, state wide, open tournament I also entered.  It was here, observed by some state team spotters, I was invited to join the ‘Federation of Australian Karate do Organisations’ NSW State team, where I restarted my tournament fighting career for another three years; therefore, fighting at national level in the UK and Australia.

During this time, along with Chris Sergeant, Ted D’Arcy and Lee Passmore, I became one of the founding members of the ‘Karate Union of Australia’, with Yoshikazu Sumi Sensei as our chief instructor.

During the 1980s I had the honour of training with some of the worlds most eminent Grand masters from other styles, such as Goshi Yamaguchi Sensei of Goju Kai and Tatsuo Suzuki Sensei from Wado Ryu.

In 1991, after meeting Bob Jones (Founder and chief instructor of Zen Do Kai, and who is also credited with being the Father of Australian Muay Thai), I was invited as a guest to his home (and Zen Do Kai Honbu Dojo) along with my sons, Stuart and Steven, where we were introduced to Muay Thai. 

I had been my sons’ trainer from their beginnings in martial arts, guiding them to black belts and through virtually unbeaten tournament careers.  I was initially responsible for their Muay Thai training and budding kickboxing careers, and for several years Muay Thai became a major part of my martial arts training; before sourcing a Muay Thai specialist, in renowned trainer Nick Stone, for them to go on to world title success.  Stuart has since made a name for himself as a trainer of world champions and Steven, under his brother’s tutelage, after picking up his first world title in 2001 is still the currant WBC world Muay Thai champion.

Quote From A Master

The following is a derivative of something borrowed from Masatoshi Nakayama Sensei’s ‘Best Karate’ series of instructional books:

“Karate is, and always has been, a method of self-defence, never a technique of aggression.  However, it is much more than that.  To the dedicated student, it is a form of combined physical and mental discipline from which a student can learn the value of personal attributes such as kindness and sincerity.

“To the Karate Master, self-control is quite as important as mastery of the various techniques.  The Karateka (Karate student) never seriously uses his skills unless a threat is unavoidable and other defences are inadequate.  In fact, all Kata begins with "Uke" (a defensive technique) rather than an offensive one.

“Gichin Funakoshi often told his students ‘The spirit of Karate is lost without courtesy’.

“Decorum, humility and gentleness are other hallmarks of the Karateka, but he or she is never servile (sycophantic or submissive).  A student's performance of Kata must bring forth boldness and confidence.  These seemingly paradoxical combinations of boldness & gentleness, confidence & humility lead eventually to harmony (body and mind integrated into a singular discipline).”

This, as much as self-defence, is the aim of Karate: a life-long endeavour.

Torakan Dojo Kun


Humility: to be humble or unpretentious, the opposite of arrogant or big headed.
Self Discipline: the strength of mind to impose your will upon yourself.
Self Confidence: the ability to recognise and be what and who you are.
Self Knowledge: knowing your potential and where you are in respect of that.
Self Love: love is an essential ingredient of this world and begins with self.
Self Respect: without self respect you will respect nothing else.
Respect for Others: respect is a mutual thing: to gain it you must give it.
Unity of Mind & body: the mind initiates thought & the body initiates action.
Thought & Deed: thought is the action of the mind & the deed is the physical result.
Body & Spirit: body as in all physicality & spirit as in everything else that is.

Escalation of Force

In the event of an unavoidable adverse situation, and where there is no other option but to confront an attacker, the following minimum escalation of force is recommended:

      * Stop rather than hurt
      * Hurt rather than maim
      * Maim rather than kill
      * Kill rather than be killed

Martial Arts Profile

T.D.McKinnon is a former British Parachute Regiment soldier, and a multi-accredited international Martial Arts Specialist with 45 years experience: Boxing, Karate, Kung Fu, Bushido, Muay Thai and Close Quarter Combat; also, self-defence instructor to the security industry for twenty-five years.

In high-risk security, he was an international Close Personal Protection Operative (CPPO or Bodyguard) for twenty five years, with a client list that included European Royalty and a United States President.

Qualifications

5th Dan Black Belt: Karate Union of Australia
5th Dan Black Belt (Honorary): Chinese Karate Association
3rd Dan Black Belt: Shotokan Karate Federation of Australia
2nd Dan Black Belt: Ken Sei Kan Karate-Do
2nd Dan Black Belt: Serenity Ryu (Bushido)
1st Dan Black Belt: Japan Karate Association
 National Referee: Federation of Karate-Do Organisations
Instructor: NSW Kickboxing Federation
Chief Instructor of TORAKAN
Tasmanian State Chief Instructor KUA
Founding member of Karate Union of Australia
Technical Advisor for Karate Union of Australia

Experience

Instructor: Close Quarter & Unarmed Combat; Crowd Control; Restrain and Control Techniques.
* E.C.P. Services.
* Lane Cove Security Pty. Ltd.
* Executive Bodyguards Sydney.
* Toraguard Security Pty. Ltd.
* St Mary’s Rugby League’s Club.
* Mt Druitt Workers Club.
Instructor: Self-Defence.
* Government and private schools throughout NSW & Tasmania.
* Designed and developed a Women’s Self-defence System and produced an instructional video.
Instructor: Karate (Scotland and Australia)
* Founder of Torakan Scotland and Torakan Australia.
* Police Citizens Youth Clubs throughout NSW.
Instructor:  Muay Thai and Kick Boxing
* Police Citizens Youth Clubs.
* Bulldog Gym, Castle Hill (Gym of Champions).
Martial Competition British Army Unit Representative (Boxing).
* Karate Union of Scotland National Representative (Karate).
* NSW Federation of Australian Karate do Organisations State Representative (Karate).
   Menu/Home     l    Top of page    |     News, Events & Tidbits    |    My 'Goodreads' Page    |     MacBlogg      

   Martial Arts Photo Gallery   |  Child Abuse

Indies Unlimited    |    About Writing    I    Videos

The content of this site is copyright protected.

T.D. McKinnon PO Box 309, Devonport 7310, Tasmania, Australia